Tigers keep 2023 ‘near perfect’

Bangladesh had not won a Test at home since 2020 but they reached there comfortably on Friday as they beat Ireland by seven wickets to continue their hot streak this year.

Bangladesh have played five bilateral series this year, and they have lost just one. The fifth was never in doubt since the second day of this Test although an Irish fightback on Thursday had left some doubts lingering.

However, on Friday, they made quick work of the Irish as the Tigers only allowed them to add six more runs to their overnight lead of 131, bundling the visitors out for 292.

An unbeaten fifty from Mushfiqur Rahim, who hit a hundred in the first innings and was adjudged Player of the Match later, alongside Tamim Iqbal’s 31 and Liton Das’ 23 helped Bangladesh chase down the total in just 27.1 overs with seven wickets in hand.

Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who had previously stated that 2023 will be better than the past year, was hopeful of continuing on this good run of form.

“I had said earlier that 2023 will go very well for us. Because it’s an important year, we have the Asia Cup and the World Cup. Hopefully, we can play well for the next six months and keep up the good work we have done in the first four months,” he said after the match.

Irish skipper Andy Balbirnie said that they were hopeful with their lead in the morning, which later dissipated.

“100 percent (felt we had a chance of winning this morning). Our message was all the pressure was on Bangladesh. If they had lost this game there would have been a lot more people in this press room,” he said.

Bangladesh needed two more wickets in the morning and they took nine overs to do so as Ebadot Hossain first bowled the well-set Andy McBrine for 72 first and then got rid of Graham Hume (14) to bowl the Irish out.

In reply, Liton Das was promoted to open and he provided Bangladesh with a fiery start before falling to a freakish dismissal, and Najmul Hossain Shanto fell soon after.

Despite those two wickets, Bangladesh did not panic as Tamim and Mushfiq added 62 runs to take them near home before the former fell to Ben White.

From there, Mushfiq, who hit the winning run, added 33 runs with Mominul to take Bangladesh home.

Shakib said the improvement in their mentality is the biggest change in the team. “The biggest improvement is in our mentality. During the last match of the (T20) World Cup, we said that we thought of us as a small team, which we are not. If we took this belief with us, we would have played in the semis,” Shakib said.